Mentioning the word "vision" often leads the thinking to movies like "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang or books like "Under the Sea" by Jules Verne. A more recent example is John F. Kennedy's "Send a man to the moon by the end of the decade and bring him safely back." Kennedy didn't forget the second part, which makes it so brilliant.

Most visions are, however, not like this, because they are not very suitable for an organisation or company to navigate by. Visions must be practical to fulfil their purpose. For any company, they must be obtainable within three to five year, or they are just "dreams". Visions are a much forgotten tool by managers, who in daily work are overloaded with scorecards and budgets and emergency meetings. Business schools talk about the two dimensions of the markets. One dimension is for products and services, while the other is for the marketing of ideas. I think the best ideas are visions, but all ideas are not and should not be visions.

Below, I have listed some criteria I believe should be fulfilled by a true vision.

1. •A Vision is a painting of the future. It contains some detailed brushstrokes, while other parts are more blurry. The vision can be as small and exquisite as Mona Lisa at the Louvre, or it can cover the whole wall.
   

2. •Everyone in the organisation should be able to contribute to this "painting". This collaboration is important.
   

3. •The Vision changes with time. When you get closer to it, it changes. It's like a finished painting, that gets more detailed when you get closer to it. Sometimes, what you thought you saw when you looked at it from a distance, isn't what you see when you get closer to it.
   

4. •If the Vision is too blurry, people will read what they want into it. It's called mirroring in psychology. You mirror your own thoughts and feelings into the object or person of your perception. The more concrete the Vision is, the better it is. It's easy to buy the statement: "What we will do will change everything for the better." But you will risk disillusionment with people. If you, on the other hand, say: "This afternoon, we will take our cars, and we will drive down to the little taverna by the seaside", everyone can see in their mind what is going to happen. No one will be disillusioned.
   

5. •The Vision is a collective effort, but it needs a vision holder; someone who feels responsible for it.
   

6. •The Vision helps to guide decisions and inspires the organisation. It helps to focus on the things that matters. That's why it's so important.
   

7. •It is not fantasy or sci-fi, like Metropolis or Under the Sea. Avoid wishful thinking. It must be perceived as attainable within three to five years.
   

8. •The vision can be an indication that you need to change your business model. If your mental model does not square with your business model, you have to take a good look at your business.
   

9. •It is one of the most important management tools you can use. It is vastly underused by most managers, who soon find themselves drowned by day-to-day activities, which make them loose focus on what they were there to accomplish in the first place.
   

10. •It is storytelling at its best. Why we are here and where we are going.
    

11. •Use PowerPoint or Keynote to tell your story. Write a blog. Make a video and distribute to your organisation and customers. Engage people in discussions. Ask important questions. No one expects that you have all the answers. The conversation will change the vision.
    

12. •Use simple logic. It's difficult to follow complex reasoning. One great visionary is Jonathan Schwartz at Sun microsystems, but his logic can be difficult to follow. You must make an effort. If the logic isn't in place, you will lose people on the way. The vision helps to explain the world we live in. "This is what is happening, therefore we need to do this..." Or: "The trend is that all media will be distributed via broadband in the future, either fixed or wireless. By media I mean video with or without HD quality, radio, music, news... Therefore, we need to develop products and services that enables and support this distribution. HD content will come, but it will be a download-able service. To be a successful player on this market, you need to combine advanced technology that is simple to use, even by grandmas and granddads, popular content and straight business models. Some companies will deliver all three, some will do it in partnership with others. We think telecom operators will have problems monetizing other things than data. This is our role in this revolution."
    

13. •If people don't buy into your vision, it can be a sign that:
    

14. •They don't believe in it. The logic isn't correct;
    

15. •They don't care. You may have an empowerment problem, and you need to change how things are done in your organisation and who is doing it;
    

16. •Your vision doesn't align with peoples perception of reality. You have got it wrong, or they have got it wrong. You may have an education problem with your workforce, people simply don't get it.
    

17. •One of the dangers is that it becomes a talk shop and not a work shop. People buy into your vision only to please you.
    

18. •The Vision is not a financial statement or a promise to investors about the future to come.